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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26435125">Liminality</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noellefics/pseuds/Noellefics'>Noellefics</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Teenage Bounty Hunters (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F, Pre-Relationship, Prior To Season 1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-09-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-20 09:15:25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,391</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26435125</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noellefics/pseuds/Noellefics</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Sterling knows that April is never going to be her friend and she should stop trying to make it happen. Every time she swears she's finally done, though, April manages to pull her back in.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>April Stevens/Sterling Wesley</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>136</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Forgery</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>April Stevens has hated her since fifth grade. It was just a fact of life that Sterling would have to accept one day. Her attempts to mend their relationship never seemed to go anywhere, and yet, she couldn’t stop herself from trying.</p><p>It’s like, every time she tells herself she’s done, the universe can sense it. Somehow reality bends a little and reminds her of what it was like to be April’s friend. Makes her think her effort will eventually all pay off one day.</p><p>Today is one of those days, when she finds herself alone with April before fellowship. The girl is hard at work on something, not even noticing her, and Sterling can’t help but glance over her shoulder at the piece of paper. April is copying the signature in front of her, practicing the loops and curves over-and-over.  </p><p>“Wow, you are really good at that!”</p><p>“Before you threaten to rat me out, I’ll have you know my dad gave me permission to forge his signature when the situation calls for it after last week when Señora O'Reilly tried to give me detention over not having my practice logs signed.”</p><p>“Yeah, that was bullshit. You’re like, the only fluent person in the class. Besides, it’s pretty cool,” Sterling says, gesturing to the paper.</p><p>“Right? Although you’re not so bad yourself. Unlike your partner <em>Carlos</em>.”</p><p>Sterling laughs then, Luke is a bit of a lost case when it comes to Spanish.</p><p>“You know, we have about ten minutes before anyone else gets here. I could teach you.”</p><p>“Really?”</p><p>“Sure, it’s not that hard. Here, sign your name.”</p><p>Sterling does, briefly wondering if April is going to steal her identity later.</p><p>“Now, if I try to copy it just looking at it, I’m seeing the letters, right?” April demonstrates her point by signing, and it doesn’t look half bad, but it doesn’t flow quite as nicely as Sterling’s original signature.</p><p>April flips the paper, so that the letters are upside down, before speaking again, “Instead, when we look at it from another angle, it’s no longer just w’s and e’s, but a whole artistry to the strokes.”</p><p>When April flips the paper back, Sterling is surprised at how close it is. While not perfect, it’d fool most people at a glance.</p><p>“You practice that way until you’re confident enough to try it normally. Now it’s your turn. Try mine.”</p><p>Sterling does, looking at April’s signature in front of her. Her first try has the shapes right, but it just doesn’t have the same feel.</p><p>“Here,” April says, adjusting Sterling’s hand on the pen, “you need to press down harder.”</p><p>She follows along with April’s instructions, noticing the detail in their handwriting. Whereas her signature was softer on the page, letters more delicate, April’s is thicker, yet more formal.</p><p>Her next attempt is better, and she sees April’s crooked half-smile out of the corner of her eye, so she tries again while April goes back to copying Sterling’s name. They sit there quietly for a few minutes, with only a few words said, April reminding her to “be confident with your strokes” or complimenting her on forgery that would probably fool even her parents.</p><p>When Ellen appears, thrilled that the girls are there early, Sterling stashes the paper into her bag and April does the same. She shoots a small smile at the girl, at which April just rolls her eyes, and it’s like their altered realty has just merged back with their regular timeline.</p><p>That night, she pulls the paper out of her backpack--her only proof that the moment even happened. She studies it again, figuring April would be disappointed if she had wasted her time on something Sterling wouldn’t even practice, and she thinks about their vastly different styles.</p><p>April used a proper cursive-a at the beginning of her name, like a large version of the lowercase printed one, rather than how most people would just use an uppercase A. Her e’s even looked like backwards 3’s, as if she took the cursive training book from second grade to heart. It definitely suited her: April was 100% intensity at all times, and yet in a way that was polished, as if regulated for the outside world. </p><p>Sterling’s own writing was more fluid, none of her letters were all that consistent, and her touch of the pen on the paper was lighter. While April’s letters had definite stopping points, the tail ends of the g on Sterling and y on Wesley trailed off with their own little flourishes. She wasn't sure what that said about her. Was handwriting analysis even a thing? April would probably know, but it wasn't like Sterling was going to ask her opinion on the matter.</p><p>Sterling starts to wonder then what her signature would look like in April’s style and vice-versa, as she begins to write. She likes parts of each and starts mixing their techniques up. Half an hour later, she’s particularly pleased with two names on the page, ‘April Wesley’ and ‘Sterling Stevens’ each came out better than she expected. It's just a silly combination, of course, but she can't deny that their names look good that way. </p><p>For a second, she considers texting a picture to April, considering that the other girl might be proud of her efforts. Then, remembering the way that April snapped back to her normal self as soon as Ellen found them, she decides against it.  </p><p>Despite their family being avid recyclers due to Blair’s insistence, she feels the urge to crumple the paper up and throw it away—her parents wouldn’t approve of her learning to forge, even just for fun, and that’s probably the reason her stomach feels a little funny, right?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Phone Call</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The next couple weeks pass how they normally do: April avoiding her, except for a passive-aggressive remark here-and-there in fellowship.</p><p>Sterling makes her mind up, then, as she sits on her bed and journals about her day. April telling her she was “as competent as a character in an infomercial” earlier was the last straw and she was no longer going to take her comments on the chin.</p><p>This was <em>definitely</em> the last time she would let April get away with that behavior.</p><p>Her phone ringing interrupts her thoughts and, of course, April—who has never once called her before—has to be the one calling her right now.</p><p>“Look if you’re calling to tell me I messed up the posters, again, I’m hanging up,” Sterling says, forgoing any type of nice greeting as part of her new stand-up-for-herself plan.</p><p>“What? If I could forgive Hannah B for that mishap with the decorations, I can forgive your misjudgment with the posters, provided it’s fixed by Thursday of course. Ugh, that girl could throw herself at the ground and miss. Anyway, no that’s not why I called.”</p><p>“Oh, well hello then April. What can I help you with?”</p><p>Sterling can feel her inner-Blair voice judging her then, but she reasons that her plan was to stand up for herself and so far April isn’t being mean, at least to her. She even kind of apologized. Ok, it wasn’t an apology, but it was something right? Inner-Blair is rolling her eyes at her now, but Sterling dismisses it, focusing back on her phone.</p><p>“Have you kissed anyone other than Luke?”</p><p>“Have I kissed...you want to know if I kissed anyone else? Is this a prank call?”</p><p>“Really, Sterl? I’m calling from my personal number and making no attempt to disguise my voice. How would that even work as a prank call?”</p><p>“I’m sure you could find a way. Why are you even asking? You know Luke and I have dated since the fifth grade.”</p><p>“Have you? Well forgive me for not keeping up with your relationship. I don’t even know why I bothered calling you. You’re Sterling, such a good girl, of course you haven’t kissed anyone else.”</p><p>“I’m—should I be offended by that?” Sterling pauses, rolling April’s words around in her head, “Actually, why did you call me?”</p><p>“It’s for class. Science. Germs. The bacteria flora in a person’s mouth varies significantly by individual, with hundreds of different species. It takes less than 10 seconds of kissing to transfer 80 million bacteria between two people, you know.”</p><p>Sterling doesn’t know, so she scribbles herself a note to look it up later.</p><p>“So, you’re doing research on kissing? That’s an odd topic.”</p><p>“It’s a group project and it was Hannah B’s turn to pick. We vetoed three other ideas before this one so we were desperate. We already have a fully developed bibliography, but we were hoping to supplement with some case studies. The plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance, and all.”</p><p>Sterling listens closer then, she can hear Ezekiel and Hannah B talking to each other faintly in the background, but it’s not like they’re laughing at her. Honestly, it doesn’t even seem like they’re paying attention to the conversation she’s having with April. April’s story doesn’t fully make sense to her, but whatever’s going on, she doesn’t think it’s some kind of practical joke that’s going to come back to bite her later.</p><p>“Even Hannah B couldn’t sabotage your efforts to get an A, so I’m sure you’ll be fine either way. Since we’re sharing, you haven’t kissed any boys at all, right? Not that there’s anything wrong with waiting until you’re ready, of course!”  </p><p>“No, no boys,” April says, her voice suddenly softer than Sterling’s heard it in years, “I’m holding out for something better.”</p><p>“Why do girls always do that? Say things like ‘I’m not interested in boys, I’m waiting for a man’ or whatever?”</p><p>Sterling can hear April take a deep breath then, as if she’s contemplating her words, and she wonders if she somehow said the wrong thing.</p><p>Before she can figure out how to rephrase whatever she said wrong, April is ending their call, “I don’t know, Sterl. Look, Hannah B managed to get herself stuck in a laundry hamper, so I have to go.”</p><p>And just like that, April has razzled her brain for the foreseeable future in the span of a five-minute phone call.  </p><p>When she hears Blair brushing her teeth in their shared bathroom, she leans against the door, wondering how to delicately broach the topic of whatever just happened between her and April.</p><p>“Hey, what are y’all learning in science this week?”</p><p>“We’re still on chemical bonds, why?”</p><p>“Oh, it’s nothing. April just said something today that made me think your class was ahead of ours.”</p><p>“It’s always something with her, isn’t it? Do you want me to spit in her mouthguard? You know I would for you.”</p><p>“No, absolutely not,” Sterling says quickly. The last thing she needs is April’s rowing team getting into a fight with Blair’s lacrosse team—she still remembers how Franklin learned the hard way last year that the rowing crew was strangely protective of their coxswain.</p><p>“It wasn’t even mean or directed to me. Just weird. She probably still reads her textbooks cover-to-cover before the school year starts.”</p><p>“Oh, you’re totally right! Ok, top five weirdest habits of Willingham students, go.”</p><p>Thankful that she doesn’t have to rehash the strangest phone call ever with her twin, she resolves to forget it even happened.</p><p>For the rest of the night, she’s mostly successful. The next morning, however, when Luke kisses her outside of the school, all she can think about is April and the 80 million bacteria that they’re transferring right now.</p><p>Well, Luke can deal with one day of fewer kissing opportunities, she figures. It’s not even about April; it’s clearly about the germs. Ashley and Ryan in her Spanish class were out just last week with the flu, so it’s just her being proactive about their health, really.</p><p>When she sees Hannah B alone in the hallway, Sterling decides to risk talking to her to get more information on whatever April was up to the prior night.</p><p>“Hey Hannah! Sorry I couldn’t be of more help with your whole kissing research experiment thing.”</p><p>Hannah B’s face is blank for a second, before it lights up with recognition.</p><p>“Oh, I tried to experiment with kissing once, but April didn’t want to. Figures you’d be more her speed.”</p><p>“Ok, great. Talk to you later then,” Sterling says, trying to escape the conversation. Why did she even expect anything Hannah B said to make sense in the first place?</p><p>She never could quite figure out how Hannah B became and stayed friends with April, yet Sterling couldn’t get them back on friendly acquaintance terms despite all her effort.</p><p>By the time she runs into the girl herself during the day, she's back to barely acknowledging her, and Sterling wonders whether she will ever understand the enigma that is April.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Country Club</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The end of the school year comes faster than Sterling expects. Her summer plans don’t amount to much more than catching up on her reading list and passing her driver’s test, and she wonders if she shouldn’t have something more meaningful planned. Half of her peers are already thinking about what they’ll put on their college apps, but Blair has already reassured her that one boring summer isn’t going to sabotage her life.</p><p>There’s a small gathering for their class planned at the country club to celebrate. Sterling thinks it’s a bit overkill since it’s not like they’re graduating yet, but she’s learned that some adults will turn any occasion into an excuse to drink, so it doesn’t surprise her much.</p><p>It goes without saying that the Stevens family will be there. She hasn’t spoken more than six words to April since their phone call and, even still, she’s heard all about April’s illustrious goals of ‘saving sick kids through Christ.’ She even overheard Hannah B’s plan to make them matching bedazzled shirts with the phrase on them.</p><p>The Wesley’s show up precisely on time; Blair had suggested showing up after dinner—the buffet style options at the club were never that great even with all its prestige—but their mom had nixed that idea immediately.</p><p>Sterling sees April across the room, her family as well as Hannah’s and Ezekiel’s having arrived early, and offers a small wave. It isn’t all that surprising that April doesn’t wave back, although Sterling could almost swear that April smiled at her for like half a second there.</p><p>After their lackluster dinner, the adults begin to congregate near the bar, leaving the teenagers free to mingle. Luke is already out of town for his travel team’s golf tournament and Jennings is weirdly glued to his mom’s side, meaning the twins are on their own for the night.</p><p>“God, I wish I had packed a granola bar,” Blair complains.</p><p>Before Sterling can commiserate, April joins their conversation.</p><p>“You know, there’s a vending machine in the hallway next to the staff breakroom. If we leave now, I’d say we’d have forty-five minutes before our parents realize we’re gone.”</p><p>Blair just shrugs, need for food more edible than rubbery chicken overriding her usual icy response to the shorter girl.</p><p>“Well,” Sterling says, “in that case, lead the way.”</p><p>On the way out, she glances over at Ezekiel and Hannah B talking with one of the jam band kids. Hannah B seems fully engrossed in their conversation, but Ezekiel gives her a discrete wink. At least that means April probably isn’t luring them away from the party so she can axe-murder them, right?</p><p>April does, in fact, lead them to a vending machine where she wastes no time getting a bag of doritos, sour patch kids, and nutter butters before continuing down the hallway.</p><p>When they reach an alcove a little further down, April sits down against the wall. Sterling sits next to her, with Blair sitting across from them.</p><p>Sterling’s just popped her first nutter butter into her mouth when the realizations hits her, “You knew what we wanted without even asking!”</p><p>“Do you ever eat with your mouth actually closed? They’ve been your favorite since like first grade. Not that hard to remember.”</p><p>“Well, I can’t believe I’m saying this but I, for one, appreciate the ice queen’s eidetic memory,” Blair says, rolling up her cardigan to use as a pillow, “So April, excited for your summer of saving sick kids while sitting pool-side?”</p><p>“Right?” April agrees, “Total bullshit, that hardly helps anyone. I could be volunteering with, like, habitat for humanity or something but my Dad thinks that would be too much for a ‘sweet young lady’ like myself.”</p><p>Blair considers this as she lies down, “So you mean you’re not looking forward to the matching t-shirts?”</p><p>“No, that part is fine, I guess. Hannah B is just trying to make it special for us. Besides, I bought her the bedazzler for her birthday so I really should have seen that coming.”</p><p>Blair seems satisfied with her answer and turns her attention to her phone.</p><p>“I wish I had worn my cardigan too,” Sterling complains, “Why are the floors so uncomfy here?”</p><p>“Just this once you can rest your head in my lap, I suppose.”</p><p>Sterling capitalizes on the opportunity before April can change her mind, lying down on her back so she can look up at April. She realizes that this would be the perfect angle for April to decapitate her if she were an axe-murderer, but when April's hand entangles itself in her hair, gently rubbing against her head, the thought goes out the window. </p><p>“So you’re really not excited at all about your summer plans?”</p><p>“I mean, it will be nice to spend more time with my Dad, I just hate that it’s wrapped up in this sanitized save-the-world package. Do this so you can be fellowship leader, so you can get into a good college, so you can meet a <em>good man</em> and get <em>married</em>, so you can have two-point-five children and raise them to do the exact same good things, ugh. It all feels so fake when it’s laid out like that.”</p><p>Sterling mules over her response, remembering the last time she discussed dating with April and how it had ended whatever moment they were having.</p><p>Thinking better of it, she decides to steer away from the subject, saying, “But this right here and now isn’t fake, is it?”</p><p>“No, it’s not,” April says as her hand massages Sterling’s scalp, “You have a way of pulling the truth out of me.”</p><p>“Well, good. I like seeing the real you. It feels like, not fake, but dreamlike? Like a little peak of what things could be? Like we’re always on the verge of something more? I don’t know, maybe I’m not making sense.”</p><p>She waits for Blair to make some sarcastic comment, knowing her twin isn’t <em>that</em> focused on her phone, but Blair keeps her mouth shut, apparently also wanting to hear April’s response.</p><p>“No, trust me. I get it. I think the real me can only exist in these little moments. I’ve made a permanent home in a liminal space.”</p><p>Sterling just hums then, unsure of how to respond. April doesn’t seem to mind, continuing to play with Sterling’s hair.</p><p>Sometime later, Sterling hears Blair tell their mom over the phone that they’re on their way back, and she jolts awake, realizing she fell asleep in April’s lap.</p><p>She’s trying to figure out what to say now that their moment is clearly up, but April beats her to the punch.  </p><p>“Ezekiel, HB, and I have an end-of-the-year tradition of going out to the drive-in theater. You both could come with us if you wanted.”</p><p>“We’re going to our grandparents after this, but maybe we could have a raincheck when you get back this summer?”</p><p>“Sure, Sterl. Maybe someday,” April says, not sounding like she quite believes it.</p><p>Soon enough, they’re on their way over to their grandparent’s house. The rest of the evening is uneventful enough, even though she’s on edge, just waiting for Blair to bring up their unlikely companion for the evening.</p><p>It never comes, and Sterling has to wonder if she somehow imagined the whole thing. She’s too scared to bring it up herself, but that night, all she can think about is whether she and April will get their “someday” when school starts again.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Y’all ever had your hs rival decide to spend her senior prom hanging out with you and your best friend out of nowhere with absolutely no explanation?</p><p>This has been a fun little self-indulgent thing to write and I hope you enjoyed reading it too</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Fun fact: The events in this purely self-indulgent fic are based on things that happened between myself and my “rival” back in high school, which looking back on it, what was the straight explanation for any of that?</p><p>Anyway, is there a discord for this show? I’d really like to hear some bio-dad theories</p></blockquote></div></div>
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